It is necessary in some marketing areas to market cherries which are graded for size, in turn requiring marketing as individual cherries depending from separate stalks, but as cherries exist in a bunch, they are usually two cherries, often of different size, joined together by their stalks which are connected by nodes.
Attempts which have been made previously to mechanically split the cherries so that the stalk of each cherry is separated from any other cherry at or near the node, have as far as is known, been generally unsuccessful in that the cherries are damaged by the equipment and some loss occurs. The alternative of severing the cherry stems at indeterminate points along their lengths has a deleterious effect upon the cherries, which quickly deteriorate if the stalks are short. The main object of this invention is to provide a machine which is capable of splitting most if not all of the cherries from one another at or near their nodes and thereby produce a more marketable product.
In order to achieve correct mechanical splitting near the node points, all, or nearly all, the cherries must be correctly oriented, but cherries tend to tangle, and must be untangled to effect the required orientation. Another object of the invention is to provide a machine which is capable of untangling cherries and orienting them correctly for splitting.
Our co-pending, Australian Patent Application 23728/88 (U.S. Pat. No. 4,892,650) relates to a device designed primarily for grading of strawberries. The machine of this invention can be an accessory to the machine of the aforesaid Patent in that the cherries split by this invention can subsequently be graded by a grading machine as described therein.